A POLICEMAN was shot on the Garvaghy Road in Portadown early this morning as rioting and violence continued throughout Northern Ireland. Two days of disturbances have left one man dead, six people seriously injured and more than 100 requiring hospital treatment.
Early this morning hundreds of youths were on the streets of Derry as rioting continued. More than 200 vehicles have been hijacked and destroyed and many roads remained blocked last night.
Throughout the night Orange halls were targeted in a series of arson attacks. The Corcrain Hall near the Garvaghy Road was among those damaged by fire, said the RUC.
The policeman, whose injuries were not serious. was shot by a lone gunman who was seen to fire between five and to shots at the security forces halfway along the Garvaghy Road. Meanwhile, the RUC reported between 20 and 30 shots were fired in north Belfast.
Almost half those so far injured are members of the RUC, which has fired over 1,600 plastic bullets at rioters over the two days.
The first fatality came last evening at Dunmurry on the outskirts of Belfast. The body of a young man was found after a small explosion at the loyalist Seymour Hill area. Initial speculation was that the man died handling some sort of explosive device.
A Sinn Fein councillor, Mr Paul Butler, said: "A member of the UDA apparently killed himself in a bomb explosion. I believe that the bomb which exploded prematurely tonight was in fact in transit for use against nationalists."
While political leaders publicly called for calm, a Sinn Fein meeting in west Belfast last night - from which the media were barred - was told of plans to occupy public buildings and blockade motorways over the coming days in protest at events in Portadown on Sunday, when an Orange march was allowed down the nationalist Garvaghy Road.
Among the six seriously injured are two 14-year-old boys, one Catholic and one Protestant. Gary Lawlor, of New Barnsley west Belfast, was in a coma after being hit by a plastic bullet during rioting in nearby Lenadoon. His parents said the baton round had hit him in the back of the head.
Craig McCann. a Protestant from the Shankill area, was collecting wood for a 12th of July bonfire when hit by bullets fired on west Belfast's "peace line" by republican gunmen.
Sources in Belfast said loyalist paramilitaries have been placed on "high alert", but are under orders only to act in defence of Protestant areas.
In Bellaghy Co Derry, there was a tense standoff last night between nationalists and several hundred troops and RUC officers.
In earlier skirmishes prompted by an Orange march in the village, Mid- Ulster MP, Mr Martin McGuinness, claimed to have been hit on the head by a police baton. He was in the midst of a crowd of protesters who clashed with police trying to keep nationalists away from the march.